national actions in the issue of violence against children · 1 27.6.2017 pirjo lillsunde national...

27.6.2017 Pirjo Lillsunde1

National Actions in

the issue of

violence against

childrenPaikka alaotsikolle. Taustakuvan

voit vaihtaa klikkaamalla hiiren

kakkospainiketta -> Muotoile

tausta -kohdasta

Finland has committed:

• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

• the child is entitled to lead a safe and violence-free life and to special protection

• UN Sustainable Development goals

• 16.2 End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of

children

• 16.1 Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere

• 5.2 5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private

spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation

• 5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female

genital mutilation

• Istanbul Convention, Lanzarote Convention

• “No violence against children is justifiable; all violence against children is preventable”. (UN

Global Study on Violence Against Children, 2006)

• Council of Europe guidelines (2009): legislation is not enough : national strategies are neededEtunimi Sukunimi2 27.6.2017

Legislation

• Finland prohibited corporal punishment in 1984 (Lag angående vårdnad om barn och umgängesrätt 1983/361 , since 1.1. 1984)

• New Social Welfare Act 1301/2014 entered into force in 2015:

• the aim is to enable early support for and children based on their needs, for example due to domestic violence or substance abuse

• obliges professionals concerned about the wellbeing of families and childrento refer them to social sevíces and notify the child welfare authorities

• benefit of children

• Changes have been made also to the Child welfare Act

• many officials and professionals working with children have a duty to notifypolice when they have reason to suspect a crime against the life or health ofa child.

• a right of other persons to do so was also introduced

27.6.20173 Etunimi Sukunimi

Legislations encourage to multiprofessional collaboration

• New Social Welfare Act 1301/2014

• co-operation is made and based on childs and his/her family needs

• Health Care Act (2 §, 2010/1326)

• Child welfare Act

• Youth Act

• New Disabled Act (on the way)


Structures to protect children against violence in Finland

until the reform

• Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN-978-952-00-3323-1 ),• is in charge of the planning, steering and implementation of social and health policy. The goal of the Ministry of

Social Affairs and Health is to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to lead a healthy and socially secure life.

• The ministry’s mission is to promote healthy, disability-free life, a healthy working and living environment and gender equality as well as to secure sufficient social and health care services and a decent income at different stages of life.

• regional authorities: Regional State Administrative Agencies • There are six Regional State Administrative Agencies in Finland. The agencies work in close collaboration with

local authorities.

• The agencies' mission is to promote regional equality by carrying out executive, steering and supervisory tasks laid down in the law. To this end, they aim to strengthen implementation of basic rights and legal protection, access to basic public services, environmental protection, environmental sustainability, and public safety and also to provide a safe and healthy living and working environment in the regions.

• municipalities (local)• arrange social and health services

Information about child welfare services: https://www.lastensuojelu.info/en/


How does inspection of the services targeted to children

work?

• Regional State Administrative Agencies: • Promoting the implementation of fundamental rights and legal protection is a cross-cutting

theme in all activities of the Regional State Administrative Agency (AVI). Its Legal Protection Unit has special tasks related to implementing legal protection, for example in municipalities and various organisations, set out in several pieces of legislation.

• The tasks within the competence of the AVI Agency's Legal Protection Unit include

• handling appeals and claims for adjustment detailed in legislation

• processing complaints

• granting the right to convene a meeting of an organisation

• appointing performance auditors

• ordering special audits to be carried out in organisations specified in legislation

• receiving deposits and standing securities

• filing safe-keeping documents referred to in the Housing Transactions Act

• performing tasks related to resident democracy specified in legislation

• confirming the rules of real estate owners' organisations.

•


27.6.2017 Etunimi Sukunimi7

• 18 new counties will be established

• resposibility of social and health services.

• supporting the municipalities in the promotion of

safety.

• Municipalities would be responsible• for planning and implementing actions to combat

violence domestic violence as well as

documenting violence and collecting data for

policy planning.

A wide scale health and social services reform in Finland

Measures to ensure good co-operation between the

services that work with children at risk

• The programme to address reform in child and family services: In order to strengthen the wellbeing of all children, different types of families and personal resources, a change towards child and family-centred services and an approach that promotes children's rights. More information in English: http://stm.fi/documents/1271139/1953486/Keyproject-OH330-S33100-01-Lapsi-ja+perhepalvelujen-muutosohjelma-fact-sheet.pdf/af58f2fe-ed15-4e08-9320-09bfbde722eb

• Barnahusmodellen (https://www.thl.fi/fi/web/lastensuojelun-kasikirja/tyoprosessi/erityiskysymykset/pahoinpitely-ja-seksuaalinen-hyvaksikaytto/lasta-malli/barnahusmodellen-lasta- )

• Project (LASTA) to improve collaboration btween the police, the procecutionservice,child welfare authorities and health care in situations of suspected violence orsexual abuse against children. the project developed co-operation model betweenauthorities. The model will be implemented in the reform to the other parts of Finland.


National Action Plan to Reduce Corporal Punishment of

Children 2010-2015

• The assignment was derived from the Internal Security Programme and related to the corporal punishment campaign of the Council of Europe

• The program aimed

• to reducing violence and improving safety as a broad- based initiatives focusingon prevention, highliting the duties and responsibilities of youth work, schools, daycare and families

• to engage in publicity on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

• to raise awareness and strengthen attitudes against corporal punishment

• to stregthen the child’s human dignity and to increase reciprocal respectbetween the children and parents so that no child would be faced with corporal punishment but could grow in a favourable, tender, understandingand inclusive atmosphere

Etunimi Sukunimi16 27.6.2017


Reasons for corporalpunishment:

• self-control loss becauseof exhaustion and fatigue

• mental health problem orsubstance abuse

• the parent considers thatviolence is justified and uses it systematicly as a means of disiplineparents from othercultures


Many kinds of supportare needed

• for child upbringing

• positive methods

• awarness raising on adversive

effects of corporal punisments

• knowledge about child growth and

development

• for parental coping

• for substance abuse problems•

Measures in the Action Plan: Don’t hit the child

1. Reinforce support in social services for fatigued parents to help them cope

2. Provide support services for parents with mental health and substance abuse problems, taking into account the children’s need for support too

3. Organise support for child upbringing at home on a low-threshold principle in connection with various existing services and online

4. Include the rights of the child in the basic and complementary education of all occupational groups working with children

5. Increase children’s trust in services

6. Focus on services for families with small children at child care clinics and in early childhood education and care in the efforts to prevent corporal punishment

7. Strengthen the role of schools in human rights education, specifically in advising that corporal punishment is prohibited by law

8. Include the human rights perspective in integration services and liaise with immigrant organisation

9. Ensure the continuity of online services providing information for children on human rights and resisting violence

10. Conduct an extensive opinion and publicity campaign, ‘Children have a right to positive upbringing’, in 2011

11. Address the reducing of corporal punishment in efforts to prevent intimate partner violence

12. Improve cooperation between authorities

13. Consolidate practices in the judicial system

14. Ensure regular collecting of information on the prevalence of corporal punishment and attitudes to it

15. Promote respect for the rights and human dignity of the child and the reducing of corporal punishment in Finland’s human rights policy, bilateral relations and multilateral actions at the UN, Council of Europe and EU levels

16. Assess the situation again in 2015


Providing a Safe Environment for Our Children

and Young People

Finland’s national action plan for injury prevention among

children and youth

• https://www.thl.fi/documents/10531/72195/safe.pdf/b0317f81-0007-4530-ae4a-

121502a579a9

• action plan for safety promotion including both unintentional and intentional injuries

• in intentional injuries suicide prevention and self harm prevention aldready included

• evaluation done 2016

• working groups are establishing new priorities

• one group is working with violence against children - corporal punishment

• Corporal punishment reduction will be included in this new action plan

Etunimi Sukunimi20 27.6.2017

Statistics : Violence reduced in all types of violence

(Child victim research 1988, 2008, 2013 : 11 364 pupils in 6- and 9 classes)

• corporal punishment and mental violence reduced

• children experince more seldom violence at home

• young people have less sexual experiences with more than 5 years older persons

• also suggestions in the internet have reduced as well as harrassment and teasing

• In child victim reseach does not show the increase although police statisticsshow increase in the number of sexual crimes against children (notifyingthreshold is gettinglower)

• boys experience violence more often than girls in hobbies by the instructor

• most commonly experienced violence was caused by oher children: peers, sistersand brothers


Violence experienced by children has reduced fron 1988

Etunimi Sukunimi 2227.6.20

17Lähde: Lapsiuhritutkimus 2013 (Fagerlund, Peltola, Kääriäinen & Ellonen)

got sulky, mopped

called names,

sw eared

throw something,

Threatened w ith

violence

Joshtled

Pulled hair,

A bang into face,

Crack a w hip,

got a beating

hit w ith f ist

hit w ith something

kicked

threatened w ith a

knive or a gun

used knive or gun

Violence between children

Etunimi Sukunimi 2327.6.20

17

Lähde: Lapsiuhritutkimus 2013 (Fagerlund, Peltola, Kääriäinen & Ellonen)

Psychological violence

Physical violence

Assault


Improvement still

needed:

8 % of parents

accepted corporal

punishment


Thank you!stm.fi @STM_Uutiset

national actions in the issue of violence against children · 1 27.6.2017 pirjo lillsunde national...

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